The name of the town was assigned by a clerk interested in the classics, honoring Cicero, a Roman statesman.

The Town of Cicero is in the central part of New York and a suburb of Syracuse in the northeastern section of Onondaga County.

Cicero was one of the townships of the former Central New York Military Tract, land reserved for soldiers of the American Revolution.

The northern town line of Cicero, marked by the Oneida River, is the border of Oswego County.

The eastern town boundary is the border of Madison County, marked by the Chittenango Creek.

At the northern border of Cicero is Oneida Lake, one of the largest bodies of water located within New York State.

Cicero consists of mainly wetland, forests, farms and a large and growing number of housing developments encroaching on farmland.